Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier have verbally agreed to fight each other on the 23rd of January in what many see as the number one contender fight for the Lightweight belt, but McGregor made it clear that he wants the bout to take place at Welterweight and Poirier agrees. However, it seems like Dana White disagrees and believes it “makes no sense” for the fight to happen at 170 and would much rather the fight takes place at 155.
Speaking with BT Sport Dana White said. “Its at 155 pounds. I am not putting on a multi-million dollar fight at Catchweight that means nothing. It means nothing. The fight means nothing at 170. Neither one of those two are ranked at a 170 pounds and it doesn’t do anything in the 55-pound division if either one of them wins. Because they are fighting at 170. It literally makes no sense. There are plenty of organizations that put up fights that don’t make sense. You can go watch those kinds of fights every weekend. That’s not what we do here.” (Transcribed by Essentially Sports)
Dana White says @TheNotoriousMMA and @DustinPoirier's rematch has to happen at 155lbs, otherwise the fight means nothing
pic.twitter.com/iHwZ77oxSO
— UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) October 21, 2020
This would not be the first time that McGregor wants to fight a Lightweight at Welterweight, he previously fought both Donald Cerrone and Nate Diaz twice at 170 pounds, while Poirier has never fought at Welterweight but he doesn’t seem opposed to the idea to fight at that weight class.
McGregor hasn’t fought since January this year when he stopped Cowboy Cerrone in 40 seconds at UFC 246 and is looking to return to the octagon for the first PPV of 2021, Poirier on the other hand just came out of a fight of the year contender at UFC Vegas 4 where he beat Dan Hooker via unanimous decision to get back to the win column.
Do you think Dana White can convince Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier to compete at 155lbs?